A year after Matteo Trentin’s victory, once again an Italian, Elia Viviani, has climbed on the highest step of the podium for the Road race this afternoon in Alkmaar (Netherlands), which was the closing event of the 2019 European Championships programme.
The Italian rider, 30 years of age, current Track Omnium Olympic Champion, won in a two-man sprint, after a fiercely fought race, beating Yves Lampaert (Belgium), and the German Pascal Ackermann who came third.
The Italian national team was without doubt the most active in controlling the initial 46 kilometre section, firstly by managing to break up the peloton and then engineer the decisive action in the final laps of the 11.6 kilometre circuit.
Approximately 65 kilometres from the finish, thirteen riders broke away: Langeveld (Netherlands), Asgreen (Denmark), Lampaert (Belgium), Mezgec (Slovenia), Baska (Slovakia), Senechal (France), Lawless (Great Britain), Selig and Ackermann (Germany), Consonni, Cimolai, Viviani and the current European Champion (Italy).
25 kilometres from the finish, Elia Viviani initiated the decisive action with a breakaway to which Lampaert and Ackermann immediately reacted. The leading trio then rode together, quickly gaining a lead that the group, thanks to the help of the breakaway riders’ teammates, did not manage to close.
Lampaert attempted to power ahead less than three kilometres from the finish but Viviani immediately responded overtaking him to cross the finish in first place in front of a huge crowd. Third on the podium, 9” behind was the German Pascal Ackermann, meanwhile the rest of the peloton arrived at 33”, with a sprint won by the 2017 European Champion Alexander Kristoff (Norway) beating Michael Morkov (Denmark).
In the European Championships final medal table, it was the host country, the Netherlands, who came in first position, with 5 gold medals, 2 silver and 3 bronze in front of Italy (4,1,4) and Germany (1,3,2).
Rocco Cattaneo, President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme: «A great edition of the European Championships has just ended today and it couldn’t have finished better. For five days, we have watched very high level races but the most interesting information to come out of this event is undoubtedly the success of the new format that we put in place, with a reduced number of kilometres in races than in the past.
We have witnessed even more exciting action, which was greatly appreciated, especially by riders, the public and the press who gave wide coverage to this event.
I would like to thank the Dutch Cycling Federation presided by Marcel Wintels, the City of Alkmaar and its Mayor Piet Bruinooge for his valuable co-operation, the company LIBEMA, who have always worked closely with UEC events and the Stichting Holland Evenementen Foundation, along with its Director Vincent Thijssen for their commitment, professionalism and passion, paying great attention to every detail and special thanks to all national teams, riders and the huge crowds who came to watch over the last five days.»
The next edition of the Road European Championships will be in Trento (Italy) from 9 to 13 September 2020.
Results – click here
